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Didn't see much of the title in the article. Also, while I agree with most of it, this part seems to be the most important: > I try to define people by their a

Didn't see much of the title in the article. Also, while I agree with most of it, this part seems to be the most important: > I try to define people by their ambitions, creativity, drive, perspective, attitude, inspirations… that soft gushy core inside the genius billionaire playboy. Love, values, interests, goals. After an article about how intelligence, prestige, and beauty don't matter, what do you define people by? I'm not seeing the pattern here. What ties these things together? I'm not sure if this is what you're trying to say, but the only message I'm taking away is: the traits people traditionally respect don't matter as much as they think.

derefr 13y ago
Presumably, "intelligence, prestige, and beauty" are things people are born into. Meanwhile, "ambitions, creativity, drive, perspective, attitude, [and] aspirations"... are things people are frequently still be born into, but society doesn't think about it that way. (My riches for a world where "drive" is viewed as biological, rather than a matter of "character"...)
- girvo 13y ago
  'derefr, meet the head of this nail. I think you'll hit it off. ahem, enough terrible puns. You're right on here though, but I think "drive" as a concept is (like most things to do with humans) a mix of biological and "character". I think it leans more towards the former, however. I mean, I have struggled with depression since I was a teenager: there's a nice biological factor that destroys any and all drive I normally have.
- thaumasiotes 13y ago
  > My riches for a world where "drive" is viewed as biological, rather than a matter of "character"... We have this now. It's not necessarily a popular opinion, but it's the one with all the documentation. (On the other hand, who says your "character" isn't biological? There are plenty of ideas that directly contradict that. cf "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" "blood will tell" etc.) Drive would be the "conscientiousness" axis of the big 5 personality traits. From memory, I think it usually shows about 70% heritability? You kind of remind me of something Scott Adams wrote: (paraphrased) "Thin people believe that there is something called willpower and that they have more of it and fat people have less of it. They don't realize that they just don't like food as much."

derefr 13y ago

Presumably, "intelligence, prestige, and beauty" are things people are born into. Meanwhile, "ambitions, creativity, drive, perspective, attitude, [and] aspirations"... are things people are frequently still be born into, but society doesn't think about it that way. (My riches for a world where "drive" is viewed as biological, rather than a matter of "character"...)

girvo 13y ago
'derefr, meet the head of this nail. I think you'll hit it off. ahem, enough terrible puns. You're right on here though, but I think "drive" as a concept is (like most things to do with humans) a mix of biological and "character". I think it leans more towards the former, however. I mean, I have struggled with depression since I was a teenager: there's a nice biological factor that destroys any and all drive I normally have.
thaumasiotes 13y ago
> My riches for a world where "drive" is viewed as biological, rather than a matter of "character"... We have this now. It's not necessarily a popular opinion, but it's the one with all the documentation. (On the other hand, who says your "character" isn't biological? There are plenty of ideas that directly contradict that. cf "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" "blood will tell" etc.) Drive would be the "conscientiousness" axis of the big 5 personality traits. From memory, I think it usually shows about 70% heritability? You kind of remind me of something Scott Adams wrote: (paraphrased) "Thin people believe that there is something called willpower and that they have more of it and fat people have less of it. They don't realize that they just don't like food as much."